Timeline

CHILDHOOD

TEENAGE

In 1979, Robinson appeared in the documentary Steppin' Out directed by Lyndall Hobbs, which explored the fashionable nightclubs and the trendy pop culture scenes that were famous in London in the late 70s.
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It was shown as the support film to Alien in British cinemas. Read Less

Also in 1979, he appeared in the first segment of director Derek Jarman's 12-minute short film Broken English.
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While Boy George went on to form Culture Club in 1981 and secured a recording deal with Virgin Records, Marilyn was still scouting for a recording contract and had relocated to Los Angeles for some time. There, he worked as a personal assistant to daytime soap star Terry Lester, and teamed up with songwriter and pop entrepreneur Paul Caplin who became his manager. Read Less

TWENTIES

After Marilyn's friend Boy George had made a commercial impact with Culture Club, record companies were looking for other artists with a similar cross-dressing image. In 1983, following a high-profile appearance in the video for Eurythmics' hit single, "Who's That Girl?
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", Robinson signed his own recording contract as Marilyn with Phonogram Records. Read Less

Marilyn's first chart success came in late 1983 with his debut single "Calling Your Name" which reached the Top 5 in the UK and Australia, and number 1 in Japan.

198421 Years Old
He had two further minor UK Top 40 hits in 1984 with "Cry and Be Free" and "You Don't Love Me" (the latter of which he performed at the Children's Royal Variety Performance held at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in the presence of HRH The Princess Anne).
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In March 1984, Marilyn flew to Australia for a 10-day promotional tour and was besieged by fans who were waiting to greet him at Melbourne Airport. Film footage of his arrival was broadcast on that evening's television news. While in Australia, he was attacked and kicked in the face by a member of the public at the Exchange Hotel, a gay bar venue in Sydney, sustaining a bruised eye from the incident.<br /><br /> In late 1984, Marilyn took part in the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" along with various other pop stars of the era. Read Less

In early 1985, now facing financial difficulties and being forced to give up his London home, Phonogram Records dispatched him to Detroit, Michigan, to work with producer Don Was.
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While in America he cut his trademark long blonde hair short and ceased wearing make-up, abandoning the image that had brought him his initial success. After spending a week recording new material with Was, Marilyn was scheduled to perform live for the first time at New York's famed Area nightclub. The performance was intended to be filmed for use in the promo video for his new single, "Baby U Left Me", but the event was an unmitigated disaster. The film crew were delayed, and although Marilyn proceeded to go onstage anyway, the performance was ruined by technical problems with the club's PA system. Midway through his first song, Marilyn left the stage and never returned. Read Less

In June 1985, Marilyn released his debut album, Despite Straight Lines.
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Despite including his three earlier UK Top 40 hit singles, the album only charted in Australia. Further singles from the album, "Baby U Left Me" and "Pray For That Sunshine" were unsuccessful, although the former reached the top 40 in Australia.<br /><br /> From the mid 1980s, Robinson's drug addiction and his highly publicised disputes with Boy George damaged his public image. Public tastes were also changing, and his music career suffered. Read Less

198623 Years Old
Despite the problems in New York the year before, Marilyn performed live once in December 1986 at the Mud Club in London, where he performed a rendition of "Spirit in the Sky" which was planned to be his new single but was never released.

198926 Years Old
By 1989, Robinson had signed with the Interbeat label, though again no new recordings surfaced.
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He then dropped out of the public eye for the next decade, abandoning his music career. Read Less

THIRTIES

199532 Years Old
In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like A Man, Boy George wrote that in the 1980s Robinson had a relationship with singer Gavin Rossdale.
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In a 1996 interview for Rolling Stone, Rossdale responded: "That's George's take – he doesn't know me. There's a queue of people going to their lawyers about stuff in his book. I hope he manages to sell some books by putting my name in there." Elsewhere both Rossdale and Robinson initially denied the story but in 2003 Robinson dedicated the Marilyn CD "Hold on Tight" to Rossdale, citing "the years of our passionate relationship" and featuring a photo of them together on the cover. Read Less

199936 Years Old
Robinson first re-appeared in 1999 when he was interviewed on the Channel 4 programme Top Ten New Romantics, though he himself was not listed in the chart.

200037 Years Old
In 2000, he attempted to relaunch his career and recorded a new single as Marilyn, a cover version of the Dennis Brown song "How Could I Live?" for Desilu Records based in Jamaica.
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Robinson recorded the track in Jamaica and a few months later producer Nick Cabrera flew out there to supervise the final work on the track and its subsequent remixes. German producer Kinky Roland also made a remix of the track. Following disagreements with the label, Robinson refused to let the single be released, though some 12" promotional copies do exist. Read Less

200138 Years Old
In 2001, Robinson appeared in the BBC documentary programme A Fine Romance: The Story of the New Romantics.
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On 2 September 2001, Marilyn performed a live appearance at the Sound on Sunday club night in Leicester Square, London. It was his first live performance in over 14 years. To promote the gig, Robinson gave a series of magazine interviews.<br /><br /> A 4-track self-pressed CD-R of older material was released privately in 2003. The same year, Robinson appeared on the Channel 4 television show The Salon, a reality show based at a hairdressing salon where members of the public and several celebrities went for haircuts and beauty treatments. He also appeared in the TV documentary 25 Years of Smash Hits that traced the influence of UK pop music. Read Less

FORTIES

200643 Years Old
In 2006, Robinson was interviewed in the Channel 4 TV documentary Whatever Happened to the Gender Benders?, which reflected on the advent of the New Romantic movement of the early 1980s and the prominent roles that he, Boy George and Steve Strange played within it.

200946 Years Old
Later, both men spoke more candidly about their relationship, with Robinson confirming in 2009 that they had been "together five years" in the 1980s;, while in 2010 Rossdale said the relationship with Robinson had been an experimentation and "part of growing up".
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Robinson said, "Gavin and Gwen Rossdale's then-wife are perfect for each other, but he was the love of my life."<br /><br /> Exhibitions that have included material relating to Marilyn: <br /><br /> Nicola Tyson’s 2013 Bowie Nights at Billy's Club, London, 1978 Exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ Gallery, London W1 – 25 January – 23 February 2013 <br /><br /> Marilyn modelled for several fashion designers including Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood Several photographs of Marilyn are housed in London's National Portrait Gallery.<br /><br /> Books that have included references to Marilyn include: <br /><br /> We Can Be Heroes: Punks, Poseurs, Peacocks and People of a Particular Persuasion by Graham Smith, published by Unbound – 20 November 2012.<br /><br /> Take It Like A Man: The Autobiography of Boy George. (1995) Marilyn features prominently in Boy George's autobiography, which reflects on their long friendship and years together from living in a London squat and working at the Blitz Club. In the book, George claims that while they were living in a squat together, they were chased out by a neighbour (male) who was attracted to Marilyn, but who then broke the door down with an axe when he discovered Marilyn was a man. He also claims Marilyn once tried to seduce David Bowie at a London nightclub but was rebuffed. Read Less

FIFTIES

201350 Years Old
On 16 May 2013, Robinson appeared on Birmingham's Switch Radio where he gave a 30-minute interview.
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The following month, he appeared on Kev Gurney's Club Tropicana radio show on Bolton 96.5 radio where he gave a 20-minute interview in which he speaks candidly about his life. During the interview he revealed that he has been back in the recording studio and is currently working on four new tracks with a new production team, and suggested the possibility of live dates in the future. Read Less

He appeared on an episode of Celebrity Gogglebox that aired on Channel 4 on 9 October 2015 as part of the channel's Stand Up To Cancer Charity Evening.

Robinson began reporting on his Facebook page in Spring 2015 that he has been writing and recording some new material with Boy George as producer, and some re-recordings of his back catalogue.

201653 Years Old
He spoke about the new recordings at length during a June 2016 interview. and the single "Love or Money" will be released on 23 September 2016.
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Robinson was born in Jamaica, but after his parents split up, he and his mother moved back to England when he was four years old, settling in Hertfordshire. After being constantly bullied, he left school at 15, and by 1979 he had left home and was living in a squat in London.<br /><br /> Robinson has been candid about the effect drug abuse has had on his life, and the physical and mental health problems he has suffered. In 1986, both he and Boy George were arrested in London on charges of drug possession. On 20 August 1986, at Marylebone Magistrates Court in London, a magistrate dismissed a heroin charge against Robinson because the prosecution offered no evidence. In a November 2014 interview with the Daily Mirror, he said that he was a heroin addict from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s. Robinson says he has been clear of all drugs since 2010, after a period in rehab prompted by some specific severe health problems. Read Less